John Munson/The Star-LedgerDerek Jeter makes an error on what could have been an inning-ending double play in the eighth inning.

NEW YORK – It ended on an E-4. Of course it did.

But after the night the Yankees had in Game 2 of the ALCS, who could have believed that they would be the ones benefiting from a miscue by a second baseman?

After the way they booted and botched their way through a game for the first time since, well, a very long time, who could imagine that they’d win on an awful throw in the 13th inning?

And most importantly: Who can possibly see them losing this series now? There it was, a gift from the heavens, courtesy of the Angels. Second baseman Maicer Izturis fielded a potential double play grounder off the bat of Melky Cabrera at 1:07 a.m.

He turned toward second to throw, and threw wildly past shortstop Erick Aybar. It rolled and rolled, and the dedicated (and drenched) fans remaining in the building let out a roar of relief as Jerry Hairston Jr. rounded third base with the game-winning run.

Yes, Jerry Hairston – who had vanished longer than Balloon Boy – was the one wiping the crème pie off his face.

“We’re fortunate to come out on top in this game because it was a great game,” manager Joe Girardi said. “And there were some miscues. Fortunately we were on the right side of it.”

Talking about the Yankees win over the Angeles in 13 innings

The way the Yankees won this unpredictable game, it would be hard to imagine them losing this series. This was a game the Yankees were begging to give away. After an error-free first four games of the postseason, they made three Saturday night alone.

After a season of clutch hitting, they grounded into double plays in three straight innings, failing to advance the runners each time. It appeared that, finally, the 103-win juggernaut from the regular season, the team that swept away the Twins in three efficient games, would face its first crisis of this postseason.

Instead, the Angels one-upped them again with an error of their own, and they might have thrown away this series in the process.

There were heroes, of course. Alex Rodriguez had another image-changing October moment, tying the game with an 11th-inning home run. Mariano Rivera pitched 2 1/3 innings in relief to keep the game tied.

“It was a great game to manage,” Girardi. “I’m wiped out right now. I’m sure I’ll sleep good on that plane.”

But had Izturis not thrown this one away, the Yankees manager was setting himself up for some second guessing. Again, he was quick with the hook for his best relievers.

Joba Chamberlain got a huge strikeout in the seventh, getting Vladimir Guerrero swinging with two runners on base, but Girardi quickly went to Phil Hughes in the eighth. Hughes pitched well, but Girardi pulled him for Rivera with two outs and two runners on to face Aybar, the No. 9 hitter.

That didn’t leave Girardi many options for extra innings. Rivera did his job. He struck out Bobby Abreu and Torii Hunter looking to end the ninth, then worked through a leadoff single to Guerrero to get through the 10th.

But the lone reliever remaining in the bullpen had the game stretched into the 14th was Chad Gaudin.

“I knew I had Gaudin for 75 pitches,” Girardi explained. “You’re thinking that’s four or five innings. In your mind you can’t necessarily say, ‘I think this game is going to go 19 innings.’ We tried to win it in nine innings and then the 10th and then the 11th. I wasn’t worried.”

Girardi, of course, was not to blame for the sloppy fielding. Robinson Cano had a pair of errors, and one to start the 13th looked like it might cost the Yankees the game. Even Derek Jeter booted a double play ball. This was not perfect night, but the fans who had survived through the rain again were hoping for the perfect ending when Cabrera stepped to the plate with Hairston on second base.

A whipped-crème pie would do more than erase a sloppy night for the defense and an off night at the plate. It would set up the Yankees with a 2-0 lead in a series that was supposed to be dead even. It would put them halfway toward that elusive 27th world championship.

That pie came at 1:07 a.m., and it came in the least likely way. The Yankees tried to throw away this game but the Angels one-upped them again. It ended on an E-4. Just like nobody expected. Follow Steve Politi at Twitter.com/NJ_StevePoliti